Unpacking Our White Privilege: Reflecting on Our Teaching Practice

Abstract

MacIntyre (1981) asks, “Of what stories do I find myself a part?” (p. 201). As teachers working in an Indigenous context, we found ourselves telling stories that had moments of tension between our Eurocentric ways of knowing and the Indigenous context in which we taught. This intersection has prompted our research. We ask two questions in this inquiry: What can our experiences as non-Indigenous teachers in an Indigenous community offer us in our understanding as new researchers in the field of Indigenous education, and how can our teaching narratives further preservice teachers’ understandings of teaching Indigenous students? Through critical White studies, our research examines White privilege, power, and position and begins to unearth the experiences of teaching as non-Indigenous educators in a remote Indigenous community in Ontario, Canada. Narrative inquiry and autoethnographic methods connect our stories to greater social, political, and cultural discourses. These stories serve to disrupt the dominant discourse that divides and others the complexities of Indigenous education. This work will interrogate and unpack our White privilege and power and will serve to assist preservice teachers in their understanding of teaching within Indigenous contexts.Keywords: Indigenous education; narrative inquiry; critical White studies; teacher education

Doing Duoethnography: Addressing Essential Methodological Questions

“…Through dialogue we begin to give meaning to our collective experiences, with the hopes of not necessarily extinguishing that little voice reverberating within us, but to at least make peace with it. Remember in our first collaboration (Burleigh & Burm, 2013) when I shared the story of how I struggled in my first year of teaching to have my students walk in a straight line? I equated the inability of my students to walk in a line with my perceived shortcomings as a teacher.…”

“…In our first duoethnography we reflected on our early years teaching in an Indigenous community and the implications of white privilege (Burleigh & Burm, 2013). During those early dialogues we examined how our formative experiences, values, and beliefs influenced interactions we had with our students, whose life experiences and worldviews were different from our own.…”

“…Over the past 10 years, we have collaborated on different duoethnographic inquiries to explore our formative experiences working in Indigenous education (Burleigh & Burm, 2013;Burm & Burleigh, 2017) and more recently, to critically reflect upon the practice of allyship (Burm & Burleigh, 2022). We gravitated to duoethnography for its invitational quality, encouraging us to engage in critical self-study with an aim to changing perspective .…”

Mino-Pimaatisiwin Beginning the Journey towards Decolonisation and Reconciliation

“…The collaboration piece started right away and then the Indigenisation piece was introduced slowly." Most teachers were open to acknowledge their own education had not included the history of colonisation (Burleigh & Burm, 2013), and they were supportive of the change in direction and appreciative of their principal's strong leadership, noting: "Our leader's sense of social justice is phenomenal and how it has changed the culture of this building. When I first started working here there was a visible divide, even with staff.…”

A Settler Duoethnography About Allyship in an Era of Reconciliation

“…What was that experience like? These questions prompted us to confront the intersections of our own settler identities and privileges (Burleigh & Burm, 2013;Burm & Burleigh, 2017). Now, years later, we continue this important introspective work, delving deeper into the complexities of allyship.…”